Hi my Fellow Foodies and Activists,

I am glad to be back, after a relaxing vacation with my family and an extended weekend to the 2015 Milan Expo. The vacation with my family was fantastic, but the Milan Expo was a bit disappointing. The theme of the Expo was “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”  along with a sustainable approach to the environment. The common thread, between all of the pavilions, was to address how we are going to be able to feed our growing population in the future, especially when we still have so many people without enough food now, and others who are malnourished because of poor nutrition or obese because of too much food. I also expected the issue of food waste to be more prominent, since about 1.3 billion tons of foods are wasted every year, enough to feed all of the people who are hungry. Instead of each country really tackling the problems and coming up with innovative ideas, I felt like it was an opportunity for each country to toot it’s own horn, and put forth the picture that they wanted to paint. For instance, I am all too familiar with the U.S. policy on food, and living in “Harmony with Mother Earth” is not one of them. Yet, that was one of the Native American phrases posted on the entrance, that greeted all of the visitors to the American Pavilion. Next, you are greeted by a video of President Obama, talking about our great work in sustainability and global warming, yet we know that drilling in the Artic, fracking on Public Land, and promoting genetically modified foods is not good for the planet or public health, yet those are the policies he has been pushing. (The American Pavilion did have a cool display of a vertical garden wall, that could move to follow the sun. I would love to see more of these going up in cities around the country!)   I realized if this was the picture the U.S. Pavilion was painting, then the story coming out of China, Russia, or any other country for that matter, would also be filled with propaganda and un-truths. Of course I did appreciate the Slow Food Pavilion and the myriad of creative architecture that made up the surrounding buildings. Many of the pavilions were made of recycled materials, and were constructed in a way, so that they can be taken apart and re-purposed down the road. The atmosphere of the Expo was joyful, so we still had a good time. There was plenty of international food to be had, many choices of wine and beer, and lots of music to enjoy, so if your not attached to quality content, then you’ll still have a good time.

My guest this week on the Progressive Radio Network is Dr. Robert Graham, an integrative medicine practitioner, who is not only educating his patients about healthy nutrition, but he is educating his fellow doctors, so that they can then go on to educate their patients. I first met Dr. Graham this year at the TEDx Manhattan talks, where he made a presentation about his work, and I knew immediately that I wanted to share his work with all of you. I then had the opportunity to invite him to participate in a panel on “Eating for Health” at our Long Island Food Conference this past Spring. His work is making a difference in the lives of many, and I hope you can join us for what promises to be a great interview.

Remember, my show is recorded live, every Thursday, from 10-11 am, EST.  To tune in, navigate to PRN.fm and click the “Listen Live” button on the left. Also try downloading the PRN mobile app, and take the station with you wherever you go!

If you can’t tune in at that time, you can listen to the show in the PRN archives, or on my website, or through iTunes. You can also access the show by calling in to The Progressive Radio Network at 619-550-0869. Please “like” iEat Green’s Facebook page and feel free to rate the show and leave comments on iTunes and on my website. Thank you all for your support.

With love and gratitude,

Bhavani